Sunday, 17 July 2016

X-wing: Game with the Wifey Part 2

Hi folks,

For my Birthday this year I got the Imperial Veterans expansion pack for X-wing from the wifey (SQUEEE!). She offered to let me test fly the new ships against her, but knowing how jammy the TIE Defender is, I suggested that she take the new Imperials instead.

Wifey took "Deathfire" (TIE Bomber, extra munitions and cluster mines), as well as Countess Ryad (TIE Defender, Expert Handling, Tractor Beam and TIE/D) for a 60 point list. Facing off against that, I chose Nera Dantels (B-wing, Dead Eye, Advanced Proton Torpedoes, Heavy Laser Cannon, B-wing/E2 and Recon Specialist), as well as a Prototype Pilot (A-wing), which came in at 61 points.

The TIEs maneuver towards a flanking position.

I got off to a cracking start, dealing 4 damage (including a critical hit) to the TIE Bomber with the B-wing's Heavy Laser Cannon. The next turn the Bomber dropped some Cluster Mines before being taken out by my A-wing. The mines were in a great position to cause me trouble... after maneuvering to avoid them, the B-wing was hit with the Tractor Beam and pushed back into the mines! With reduced agility, the Defender had no troubles dealing even more damage to my floundering B-wing.

Tractor Beams are great for moving enemy ships into obstacles, such as mines...

I maneuvered both ships to fire on the Defender during the next turn. I snuck the B-wing into range 1 for a shot with the Advanced Proton Torpedoes, but again the Tractor Beam hit, knocking my ship back to range 2. The Defender's primary weapon chewed through more hull points, leaving me with one remaining. Together, the B-wing and the A-wing were able to strip the TIE Defender's shields.

I imagine most people use the Tractor Beam to bring ships closer, but wifey did the opposite, keeping the Advanced Proton Torpedoes on the B-wing out of range.

Now that we were up close and personal, wifey started using Countess Ryad's outrageously good K-turns to keep me in her sights. She used a Tractor Beam hit to nudge me out of range 1, preventing Nera from using her special ability to fire the Advanced Proton Torpedoes. She needn't have worried though, primary weapon fire destroyed the B-wing before it could get a shot off.

With no defense dice, the B-wing is a very expensive, well armed and crewed, duck.

The A-wing managed to remove a Hull Point off the Defender, before we engaged in a tense dogfight for about half an hour of playing time. The tractor beam had been the perfect foil for the B-wing, but the A-wing avoided that fire more easily. Eventually, though, the plucky A-wing ran out of luck:

Three eyeballs on a turn when wifey decided to focus... it was always going to end badly.